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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29797797">gone.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmett0558/pseuds/emmett0558'>emmett0558</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, DSMP, DSMP spoilers, Mention of a dead body, any criers, stages of grief</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:47:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,236</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29797797</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmett0558/pseuds/emmett0558</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>*spoilers for the dream smp march 1st events*</p>
<p>tommy isn't dead. tubbo refuses to believe he is. or, tubbo's reaction to tommy's death, but it breaks your heart in the worst best way.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>gone.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>started writing this through tears as soon as tommys stream ended :/ i'd recommend listening to sign of the times (harry styles) while reading, it really makes it hurt a lot more</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Won’t he come back, though? He’s just in the prison, he’ll respawn.”</p>
<p>“Tubbo, it was his last canon life. Dream took his last canon life. I-”</p>
<p>“NO, SAM. Tommy is still in the prison, I know he is. He has to be. Ranboo, let’s go visit, then we can see-”</p>
<p>“You can’t go in.”</p>
<p>“What d’you mean we can’t?”</p>
<p>“Tubbo, I told you this. Until I figure out the security issue from before, no one is allowed in. But Tommy is dead. You saw it too.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, we saw it, but…”</p>
<p>“He’s gone, Tubbo. I’m sorry. I have work to do.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>--</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tubbo, frozen, watches Sam retreat through the dark portal. It doesn’t feel correct. Why would Dream-</p>
<p>“Tubbo, we should go.” Ranboo’s voice is quiet. “Sam’s right. We saw. He’s- he’s really dead.”</p>
<p>He looks beyond the entrance, squinting at the towering, unbreakable wall. Tommy’s in there somewhere. He knows this.</p>
<p>“No, yeah, you’re right Ranboo. I’ll just come back tomorrow, I think.” Tubbo rips his eyes from the obsidian.</p>
<p>“We should, uh,” Tubbo hears Ranboo sniffle. “We need to finish the flooring for the hotel.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>--</p>
<p>Tubbo thinks as he works, losing himself in the spiraling yellow terracotta that reminds him of Tommy’s wild blond hair.</p>
<p>“It’s been, what, nineteen days? I wonder if Dream’s had to give Tommy a haircut,” he finds himself giggling. </p>
<p>He is answered with silence so he looks up. The sun is setting, casting a red glow across the water and reflecting up the side of the faraway prison. Ranboo is standing, unmoving, on the Prime Path. His shadow stretches far behind him, all hard lines and spikes from his armor. Tubbo follows his line of sight to the other hotel. Tommy’s hotel.</p>
<p>“He never got to finish it,” says Ranboo. Tubbo shakes his head. </p>
<p>“You’ve got to stop saying that, man! He’s not- Ranboo, he’s not de- he’s not gone.” But he feels his heart sink a bit.</p>
<p>“I’m gonna go do something before it’s fully dark,” he marches down the path, away from the jail and away from Tubbo.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>--</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At sunrise Tubbo makes his way down to the prison. </p>
<p>Sam is there, leaning on his sword and staring stoically ahead, any emotions hidden behind the gas mask that rarely leaves his face.</p>
<p>“Looking a bit like a statue there, Sam,” Tubbo cracks a smile. “Can I see Tommy? At least hear his voice?”</p>
<p>The only movement from the man in front of him is the rippling of the magic on his armor.</p>
<p>“I know you’re still dealing with that security thing but can I just say hi? Could you pass a message, maybe?” Tubbo waves his hand past Sam’s puffy-looking eyes.</p>
<p>“You know I can’t do that.” His voice is barely above a whisper. </p>
<p>Tubbo can feel something break inside himself.</p>
<p>“I- I will wait, then,” he tries to sound strong. “I’ll wait until I can come see Tommy.”</p>
<p>“Tubbo, he’s-” Sam’s voice genuinely fails, a muffled sob reaching Tubbo’s ears. “Just go.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>--</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He visits the prison every morning. Sam is always there, standing in the same spot. He wears goggles with his mask now. </p>
<p>Tubbo asks how Tommy is doing, asks how Dream is treating him.</p>
<p>Sam doesn’t reply.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>--</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He sees Sam Nook for the first time in a while. The builder is sitting next to the front door, looking up at the sky blankly like how he always does before being approached. But as Tubbo steps closer, he hears no unintelligible speech.</p>
<p>“Sam Nook?”</p>
<p>He crouches to the ground, resting a hand on a safety-vest-clad shoulder.</p>
<p>“Hello?”</p>
<p>
  <em>I have failed, Tubbo.</em>
</p>
<p>“Failed? Why?”</p>
<p>
  <em>Warden Sam told me about what happened last week. I know about Tommy.</em>
</p>
<p>Tubbo’s heart is falling, dropping lower and lower into a bottomless pit. He jumps up, walking away then whirling back around.</p>
<p>“HE IS NOT DEAD, SAM NOOK. HE ISN’T. HE CAN’T BE.”</p>
<p>His eyes meet Nook’s blank ones.</p>
<p>“HE’S NOT FUCKING DEAD. DREAM WOULDN’T-” </p>
<p>He freezes.</p>
<p>“He would, that bastard. B-”</p>
<p>It hits Tubbo like an anvil. </p>
<p>“Beat a kid to death in his own jail cell. Wait ‘till he’s got no escape and just-”</p>
<p>He pushes his hair off of his face, his hands coming back wet with tears.</p>
<p>
  <em>What do I do now, Tubbo?</em>
</p>
<p>“I don’t know. Dunno what I’m gonna do either.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>--</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He throws himself into his business, finishing construction of his hotel in record time. He spends days designing possible logos, each and every one needing to be scrapped because the smallest things remind him of Tommy. Anything red-and-white had to go. He burns every piece of cobblestone he found in chests. He lies awake at night, staring out the window and down the hill to the prison. Ranboo finds him sitting in front of their ender chest, tracing imaginary patterns across a music disk. </p>
<p>He swears he is fine.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>--</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tubbo discovers Puffy’s monument days later. He was taking a walk, seeing Tommy in everything he passed, when an unfamiliar cobblestone structure in the Holy Land caught his eye. </p>
<p>A Monument to TommyInnit. Rest in Peace.</p>
<p>It’s simple, just a small tower surrounded by tulips and roses, but Tubbo collapses in front of it, hands in the grass as he sobs for the first time. Unspoken words and untold stories spilling out of him and splashing onto the hallowed soil.</p>
<p>He lays amongst the flowers for a while.</p>
<p>“I wonder if you can hear me, Tommy.” his voice is hoarse.</p>
<p>“We didn’t get a proper goodbye, did we? None of us did.” A soft breeze ruffles his unkempt hair.</p>
<p>“Both hotels are going along really well. Sam Nook finally started running things at your place, and Ranboo and I are doing great, honestly. I know you’d be happy for me.”</p>
<p>He pictures Tommy standing at the top of his hotel, looking down at the Bee N’ Boo and calling it “short” and “ugly” in that voice of his.</p>
<p>“You really should have gotten to know Ranboo earlier. He writes down important things, you know, to remember them? I would’ve liked to know what you did during your exile.”</p>
<p>The moon rises above his head.</p>
<p>“I miss you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>--</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sam finally enters Dream’s cell a month after. Tubbo knows because he sees the warden at sunrise, sitting on the Prime Path, posture slumped and mask nowhere to be seen. A breeze pushes green hair away from his face, revealing reddened eyes and shining cheeks stained with tears. </p>
<p>“Dream, he- He got rid of the body. Said he pushed Tommy into the lava a couple of days after he-” Sam lowered his head, dragging his hair over his face again.</p>
<p>Tubbo wishes he was surprised, but after spending weeks writing down all of his memories of Tommy (with Ranboo’s help), he had come to terms with Tommy being truly gone from the server, the only thing left his interactions with his best friend, living on in more than 50 books. </p>
<p>“Think about it, Sam. Tommy hated small spaces. Y’think putting him in a box underground would’ve been what he wanted?”</p>
<p>“I’m proud of you, Tubbo. You know that, right?”</p>
<p>“I know, Sam.”</p>
<p>“Tommy would want a grand funeral.”</p>
<p>“We’ve gotta make something blow up. He was so bummed he missed my nuke test, remember?”</p>
<p>“I could arrange that.”</p>
<p>As the red lightened and faded from the sky, one could almost hear loud, barking laughter echoing off of towers and buildings.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>...any criers?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>yell at me on <a href="https://twitter.com/voluminousgogy">twitter</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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